Letters to the Editor - March 29 2006

We will survive

After reading your article concerning Scott [Turner Schofield], I just have to say that it was a beautiful piece of literary work (cover story, “I changed my sex. Now what?” March 16).

Your sensitivity to the issue at hand is remarkable, and I thank you for it. The more people become gently educated concerning the turmoil of what living one’s life is like, being “trapped,” is paramount for our survival.

-- Mekah Gordon, Santa Fe, N.M.

Quality over quantity

I really appreciated your piece on urban magazines (Vibes, Spotlight, March 16). How timely! I was just talking to my friend about the many magazines that have come and gone in the Atlanta urban market. I think that those that have successfully been in this market for over four years have learned to resist the inherent “urban” urge to go for costly quality over consistency and quantity.

-- Kevin D. Johnson, Johnson Media Inc.,

publisher of AUC Magazine

Judge for yourself

I have encouraged debate in my classrooms for the past 30 years as a medical educator, so I would like an opportunity to respond to Felicia Feaster’s opinion piece on Bodies ... The Exhibition (Arts, “Razzle-dazzle cadavers,” March 16), which offers the public the opportunity to see their own bodies in a fascinating way they never have before by viewing 21 real, whole-body specimens and more than 250 organs.

From reading Ms. Feaster’s comments, it is unfortunate that she was not able to appreciate the power and beauty of the human body and the lessons it can teach all of us. Where she saw a sideshow of the type that hasn’t been in existence for decades, 99 percent of people who attend see a museum-quality exhibition that educates and empowers people of all races and all ages about the universal impact of their own choices on their health and their lives.

To address claims that we add color to the muscle groups, there is no mystery here — we fully acknowledge this. And there is a powerful reason that we do so: to provide people with the most accurate picture of their own bodies — and the actual color that the muscles have in a living human being.

I ask your readers to judge for themselves — and then to share their own thoughts and reflections in our guest comment books.

-- Dr. Roy Glover,

chief medical director of Bodies ... The Exhibition

Broad brush

Cliff Bostock: I was one of those people that had a strong reaction to your article regarding psychotherapy (Headcase, “Mail bonding,” March 23). This is undoubtedly because I have my MS in counseling and just got my LAPC.

As a new therapist, I’m still learning about how I believe people change, but I do lean toward the existential/humanistic writers and have a background in theater that I’m still attempting to weave into my work.

My concern is that you are using this broad brush to bash the helping field in general. I think you may be doing a disservice because readers of CL may not be as familiar with the myriad of approaches to counseling. I just imagine the depressed individual who has been considering asking for help reading your article and feeling hopeless. Part of me wonders if Dr. Cliff is struggling with the taste of sour grapes.

-- Paul Harrison, Atlanta